Dental Blog

Can My Mouth Really Affect My Heart?

6/11/2021

The Center for Disease Control reports that cardiovascular disease causes about 610,000 deaths every year. That’s about 1670 people per day which makes it the #1 killer of both men and women in the United States. It is absolutely crazy to me that these statistics don’t get more attention! But, what does this have to do with your teeth? One of the most important mouth-body connections is your heart and mouth. One study found that having gum disease increases the risk of a first heart attack by 28%. I know that I for one would love to reduce my odds of having a heart attack by almost 30%. So, what do we have to do?
Inflammation in the mouth is the problem. The theory behind this is that the oral bacteria that causes periodontal disease gets in the blood stream and then attaches to fatty plaques in the coronary arteries which can contribute to clot formation. Coronary artery disease, which contributes to heart disease, is characterized by the thickening of the walls of the coronary arteries due to the buildup of fatty proteins. Eventually these thickened arteries block blood flow and this leads to heart attacks. This is why it is extremely important to keep this oral bacteria to a minimum. Why a minimum? Why wouldn’t we just get rid of it altogether? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Periodontal disease, which is the disease caused by this bacteria, is like diabetes in the sense that once you have it, it doesn’t just go away. We can put it into remission, but it always has to be monitored and treated. With periodontal disease, research has shown that it takes the bacteria approximately 90 days after a deep cleaning to get back to inflammatory levels. This is why once you are diagnosed with periodontal disease, it is imperative that you continue on a three month cleaning schedule for as long as your dentist recommends. This is what keeps the bacteria that affects your heart under control.
We all know that taking care of your teeth and gums is important. However, this takes it to a whole new level. It is no longer just your teeth, but your heart that is affected. So please, call your dentist today and make sure you are doing everything you can to help your heart.

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6 Ways to Calm Dental Anxiety

5/25/2021

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About 95% of dental patients have some form of anxiety. Whether it’s the shot, the fear of the unknown, the fear of pain, or just the unpleasantness of the dentist hands in your mouth, there are an undetermined number of reasons why most people are scared. Unfortunately, no matter how you feel about the dentist, at some point it has to be done. So, let’s go over some ways to help you through it.

Ask your dentist to walk through the procedure with you. There are many times when the fear is really just a fear of the unknown. As dentists, we do the same procedures all day every day. We sometimes forget that something we have done thousands of times is completely unknown to you. Often just a short explanation of what we are going to do can alleviate all of your fears.
Tell your dentist about your specific fears. We can’t help what we don’t know. If you have a fear of needles, we can make sure you don’t see it. If you hate impression material, we have tricks to make it easier. If we know what you are particularly in fear of, we can do our best to help you through it.
Watch your food and drink intake. Drinking a coffee with extra shots of espresso when you are already nervous will only make you more jittery. Caffeine is not calming. The same goes for high sugar foods. They will only amp up your body’s anxiety level.
Plan your day. If possible, make your appointment for dental work on a day where you don’t have a bunch of other stressful things going on. This will allow you to be as calm as possible.
Visit your dentist routinely. I know this seems counterintuitive, but often patients are scared of what we will find in your mouth. With regular visits, not only will you get used to the process of seeing the dentist, but in addition, there is less of a chance that we will find something major if we just saw you 6 months ago.
Sedation! Finally, if your anxiety is too much and the above suggestions just aren’t cutting it, ask your dentist for sedation. There are many different kinds of sedation. From nitrous oxide or laughing gas, to oral sedation, to iv sedation. Ask your dentist about your sedation options.

Please keep in mind that, as your dentist, we want you to be happy. A relaxed, happy patient makes our job easier. So, let us know what we can do to help you. Remember we can’t read your mind! In the famous words of Jerry Maguire, “Help me Help You!” That way we can all be happy.

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Why is My Dentist Looking at My Tongue?

5/19/2021

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Oral Cancer is on the rise. The American Cancer Society predicts that over 54,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer in 2021. However, when it is caught early, oral cancer has a high survival rate. That being said, one of our biggest jobs as a dentist is to screen our patients for oral cancer.
Oral cancer can present in many different ways. Signs of oral cancer can include the following:

White or gray patches under and around the tongue
White or gray patches on the inside of the cheek and near the throat
Growths on the lips, gums, and roof of the mouth
Lumps around the jawbone and neck area

Therefore, as dentists, when we complete our exam, we are looking for all of these signs. Some dentists are very vocal about explaining exactly what they are doing. I will admit, I am not one of these dentists. Usually I am too busy talking to the patient to explain everything I’m doing. It is easy to forget that as a patient you have no idea what I’m doing when I grab your tongue and look around. However, this part of the exam is as important as the part of the exam where we look at your teeth and x-rays.
It is also important to remember that there are a few risk factors that make you more susceptible to oral cancer. Family history or a history of smoking or alcohol abuse can increase your chances of getting oral cancer. So please make sure you tell your dentist about any risk factors that you have.
I hope this clears up why dentists do weird things during your exam, besides looking at your teeth, that you might not understand. We are trying our best to keep you safe. Remember that by seeing your dentist regularly and monitoring yourself in between exams, you can keep yourself safe and we can catch any problems before they become serious. So, if it has been awhile since your last visit, don’t wait! Schedule today!

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Do I Really Need X-Rays?

5/13/2021

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There are so many times a patient will come in and say, “Can’t you just look at my tooth and tell me what’s wrong? I don’t want an x-ray.” So, I figured I would explain the issues with that, and why dentist need x-rays.
Let’s start out with what an x-ray is. An x-ray is a 2 dimensional image of something, in this case, a tooth. It shows bone levels, a little bit of soft tissue(gums), previous dental work, as well as abnormalities such as cavities and even problems with bone and some types of cancer.
There are several different x-rays we take in the dental office. It can be confusing! When a new patient comes to the practice, we typically take what is called an FMX. FMX is just a quick way we in the dental field abbreviate “Full Mouth Series”….meaning a set, or series, of x-rays that show most of the areas of your mouth.
In Summary, an FMX is a series of 18 x-rays that cover all the teeth in your mouth. It consists of 4 bitewings, and 14 periapical x-rays. What are those?
A bitewing is an x-ray that is taken while biting down. It shows the dentist the bone level around the molars and premolars(the back teeth) in your mouth. It also allows diagnosis of decay as well as aids in the diagnosis of periodontal disease.
A periapical x-ray on the other hand is an X-ray that shows the entire tooth all the way down to the tip of the root. It shows not only abnormalities or decay on the tooth, but also if there is any infection in the bone surrounding the root of the tooth such as an abscess. In addition, dentists will sometimes take a Panoramic x-ray.
A panoramic x-ray is an x-ray that shows the entire mouth and jaw on one large picture. It does not provide the dentist with as much visual detail as bitewings and periapicals, but it allows us to see the entire jaw, jaw joint(TMJ), and any abnormalities in the bone including some cancers that only show up on this type of xray.
Why do we need x-rays? Well, the easiest answer, is that we are legally required to take an X-ray in order to diagnose a tooth. It is considered standard of care, and without an x-ray a diagnosis is really just a guess. Asking your dentist to diagnose a dental issue without an X-ray would be similar to bringing you car to a mechanic and not allowing him to look under the hood. Anytime a dentist does an exam on a patient, we are taking legal responsibility for either the full mouth if we are doing a comprehensive exam or a section of the mouth if we are doing a limited exam. Therefore, in most instances, without x-rays, we are not doing our jobs correctly. Without x-rays, we are forced to guess what might be happening with your teeth and bones surrounding your teeth, and that is not what you are paying us for.
So, I hope this clears up why we need x-rays! We are trying to do the best job possible for you!

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What Is My Dentist Talking About?

5/4/2021

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I asked my twelve year old son what he would like to know about dentistry in an effort to determine this week’s blog. He said, “What exactly is a denture?” That combined with a TikTok video I saw that showed what people really hear when the dentist is talking, has led me to this conclusion…Our patients have no idea what we’re talking about. So, I thought I would give some basic dental terminology.

Teeth: Most humans have 32 teeth. The front ones are incisors. Most people know what your canines are. Some dentists refer to them as “I” teeth. The smaller teeth behind your canines are your premolars, and the big teeth in the back are your molars. Dentists use a numbering system that starts in the upper, right wisdom tooth as #1 and goes across the top of the mouth and then back across of the bottom teeth until we get to the lower right wisdom tooth which is #32. So when you hear the dentist say a tooth number, they are just identifying the exact tooth.
Sides of Teeth: You may hear your dentist say weird words when they are talking about your teeth.
   Mesial(M)-Facing the front of your mouth
   Distal(D)-Facing the back of your mouth
   Buccal(B)-Facing your cheek
   Lingual(L)-Facing your tongue
   Occlusal(O)-On the biting surface of your tooth
For instance if you have a cavity on your upper molar in front of your wisdom tooth and the cavity is on the part of your tooth that is facing the front of your mouth and then the part of the tooth that you bite on, you may hear your dentist tell the assistant that you need a MO on #2.
We aren’t trying to be difficult, this is just the way we are taught in school so that universally all dentists know what other dentists are talking about.

Appliances:
Denture: A removable, typically all acrylic appliance, that replaces ALL of the teeth on one arch of your mouth.
Partial Denture: A removable acrylic or part metal appliance that replaces SOME of the teeth on one arch of your mouth. This is a very economical option for patients that are missing multiple teeth but still have other teeth that are good.
Bite Guard: An acrylic appliance most often worn at night to protect your teeth and jaw.

Procedures:
Filling: A procedure where the decay is removed from a tooth and then we replace the missing tooth structure with a resin substance called composite.
Crown: A procedure done to strengthen a tooth that has either broken, cracked, or has a lot of decay. Think of how a thimble protects a finger.
Root Canal: A procedure done to remove bacteria and infection from inside of the root of the tooth. The nerve of the tooth is removed so that it can no longer cause pain. Most rootcanal treated teeth will need a crown after the rootcanal to protect the tooth.
Bridge: People often confuse bridges and partial dentures. They are not similar at all. A partial denture is removable or comes in out of your mouth, and a bridge is cemented in your mouth and does not come out. A bridge is a group of crowns that are fused together. It is cemented in your mouth. If you are missing a tooth in between two solid teeth, the two teeth on either side of the gap can be crowned and a fake crown in the space connects the two crowns together. You are basically “bridging” a gap. Bridges can also be long spanning involving multiple teeth.
Implant: An implant is a titanium screw that is placed into the jawbone. The screw can have different tops put on it for different uses. Some implants replace single teeth. Some implants are used to hold bridges. Some implants are used to stabilize dentures and partial dentures. And some implants are used for full mouth restorations. They are very multifunctional.

I hope this clears up some of the dentist lingo! Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes we forget that you don’t know what we’re talking about!!!

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Why Do I Need A Crown?

4/29/2021

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So, your dentist said you need a crown...and not the princess kind. Why? What is a crown?
A crown is basically a hat for your tooth. A crown covers the entire tooth and prevents it from breaking. A tooth can need a crown for many different reasons. Basically, anytime a tooth is missing more than half of its tooth structure, it needs a crown. So, if a tooth is broken, or has a large cavity, or has an old large silver filling it may require a crown. It is very common for teeth with older silver fillings to need crowns. Silver fillings are harder than tooth structure. Therefore, if you have a large silver filling, through normal wear and tear, it will cause the tooth to break down around it. The tooth will develop crack lines and eventually break. I will often recommend crowns on teeth with large silver fillings that have crack lines. If we can restore the tooth before it breaks, it will almost always save the patient time and money.
Crowns are also used cosmetically. Almost every smile you see in Hollywood has been altered. When people come in looking for the Hollywood smile, they often need crowns on their front teeth to create the perfect smile. Using crowns, teeth can be reshaped, recontoured, and even repositioned to create a more optimal appearance.
So, if your dentist says you need a crown, smile! Your dentist is either trying to save your tooth or make it prettier!!!

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Is My Dental Work Going to Hurt???

4/21/2021

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One of the biggest questions that dentists get is, “How much is this going to hurt?!?” Some patients come right out and ask, but most people just sit in silence and assume the answer. I can literally see the horrifying images they are envisioning as they sit in the chair and stare at me in horror. So, here is the truth. Yes, you will be in pain after some dental procedures. Yes, your mouth is going to feel weird for a couple days after most dental visits. However, those horrifying images of blood poring out of your mouth really only happen in horror movies. I’m going to give you a run down of what you can really expect.
During your dental procedure, you should not feel pain. With the advancements we have in anesthetics today, there is no reason for any pain in the dental chair. Your dentist will get you numb, which is uncomfortable, but should not be painful. Once you get numb, you will know your dentist is doing stuff in your mouth, you may feel pressure, but there should be no pain! So please don’t worry about that.
After your dental procedure, you may feel pain or discomfort. Your mouth is a very sensitive area. Think about the last time you ate either chips or a piece of bread with a really crusty exterior. I don’t know about you, but I get these annoying little cuts in my mouth that bug me for a couple days. But, it doesn’t stop me from eating the chips and the bread! Dental work is similar. We have to get underneath your gums for cleanings, deep cleanings, and routine dental procedures. So, odds are, you are going to be a little sore and irritated for a couple days. Kind of like eating some really good crusty bread!
Extractions and surgical procedures are a little different. This is more like if you fell off your bike and hurt yourself. You will be swollen and uncomfortable for a few days. The swelling is part of how your body heals itself. It means that everything is working right! Almost all people heal in the same timeline because it is the way your cells work together to heal you. You will be the most uncomfortable on day 3 after a surgical procedure. So think of a hill. You are heading up the hill until the 3rd day and then it’s just all downhill fun. You should start feeling much better!
So, there you have it. Trust your dentist when they tell you what to expect. Dentists really only do a few procedures, so we know exactly what you are going to feel. In addition, we are patients as well. We are our classmates first patients that they practice on in dental school. We have experienced all the shots, and a lot of the procedures as well. We don’t want you to be surprised. We want whatever procedure you’re having done to go seamlessly and we want you to know exactly what to expect after the procedure when we can’t be there with you. If you are experiencing pain or symptoms that are unexpected after your procedure, we want to know. At our office, we have someone who answers the phone 24 hours a day so that we can help you anytime. So ask the question, get the work done. We are here for you!

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I Brush My Teeth...Why Do I Still Have Cavities?

4/16/2021

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In order to answer this question, you have to know where cavities come from. Teeth are made of minerals, and cavities are caused by the teeth being demineralized. Think of an egg. It has this strong outer shell, but if you leave the egg in Coke overnight, what happens? The shell gets soft and eventually breaks down. This is what happens to your teeth. Anytime you eat anything sugary or starchy, it feeds the bacteria in your mouth. When the bacteria eat, they produce acid. This acid causes the pH in your mouth to drop creating an environment similar to the egg in Coke. Over time, the outer layer of your tooth softens, it becomes even more susceptible to this pH drop, and this is how cavities are formed.
So how do you stop it? I like to think of it as a game. The object of the game is to get your mouth back to normal pH. Now, it isn’t always convenient to run off and brush your teeth every time you eat, but there are a lot of little things that you can do. The first thing is the easiest and what I always tell my high risk patients to try first. DON’T sip on anything besides water all day. When you sip on anything besides water, you are bathing your teeth constantly in something that is hurting them. So, drink the Coke, drink your coffee with all the sugar you want, but do it in a short period of time and then let your teeth rest from the assault and get back to normal. If at all possible, drink some water after your sugar drink to get the process started quicker. You can also chew on a sugar free gum. Some of them, like Orbit, contain Zylitol that actually fights cavities.
And what about brushing? Brushing is a double punch! The actual process of brushing helps remove the plaque and bacteria that causes the pH drop that causes the cavities! The more plaque and bacteria you remove, the better off you are. In addition, if you choose to use fluoride, fluoride actually remineralizes the teeth. So fluoride actually makes your teeth more resistant to cavities.
However, diet isn’t the only way to get cavities. I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss how most of my patients got cavities. My average patient age for the last 15 years has been over 60. This population doesn’t get cavities the same way younger people do. Most of the time, they get cavities from the effects of their medications. Saliva is one of the biggest protectors of teeth. It is a natural buffer for the teeth from the acid that destroys them. Many medications have a side effect of decreased saliva. The more medications you are on, the more this side effect is compounded. Often physicians don’t discuss the effect that lack of saliva can have on your teeth. I can’t even tell you the number of times where I have seen a great, healthy patient come back with many cavities after just 6 months when they start a new medication. It is always so frustrating for the patient who wasn’t told the risk. This is why it is super important to update your dentist when you start a new medication so that we can help you combat the effects on your teeth.
So, yes, your dentist would love for you to brush your teeth at least twice a day. But, even if you do, we can’t guarantee you won’t get cavities. It is important to protect your teeth from too much sugar and also to be aware that your medications can cause major dental problems. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out!

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Dentures Without Implants are for Smiling Not Chewing

4/7/2021

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I belong to several online dentist groups where dentists discuss cases and treatment plans together to try and further their education. Last week, one of the dentists posted this title, “Dentures without implants are for smiling, not chewing,” and it really resonated with me.
In the beginning of my career, I would happily complete a lower denture on anyone who wanted and/or needed one. I had learned the best techniques and was taught that in cases with hopeless teeth, dentures were standard of care. Over the years, I began to realize that my denture patients and specifically my patients with conventional lower dentures, were my “problem” patients. They were the patients who were never happy. They often just couldn’t function with the lower denture. So, I took a denture course. I thought surely it was something I was doing wrong. And, thanks to an amazing dental school (Go Gators!), I didn’t learn any new techniques. I was taught, and was doing the best techniques for completing dentures that were available.
My next plan of action was to create a new policy for myself. And, this is the policy I have stuck with for many years now. I just don’t do lower dentures without implants anymore. I hate when patients are unhappy or disappointed. I want to know that when I finish my work, I will have a happy, healthy, functioning patient. I couldn’t guarantee that with lower dentures without implants. Don’t get me wrong, there are some patients who are completely happy with anything. You literally put a denture in their mouth and they happily start chewing and functioning with it and never look back. But, those patients are few and far between. The rest of the time, patients who get conventional lower dentures are sorely disappointed. They can’t eat and often can’t speak properly. Most of the time, they end up putting the dentures in a drawer and only using them for special occasions.
So, what is the difference between upper and lower dentures? People think, well I have 2 jaws, so they must be the same. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As I would tell my patients, most people can tolerate an upper denture. While it is not the most fun experience, and it is definitely not like having your own teeth, most people can learn to function with an upper denture. Lower dentures are a whole different ballgame. Let’s talk about the difference between your upper and lower jaws. Feel the roof of your mouth with your tongue. It is mostly hard, and where the hard part meets the soft part, back by your throat, this is what helps the denture suction to the roof of your mouth. Now feel your lower jaw. Most of it is covered by your tongue and it is soft moveable tissue in the middle of your teeth. Your jaws are completely different. Therefore, the dentures have to be completely different. An upper denture covers the entire roof of your mouth. It has a lot of surface area to help it suction and have retention.
A lower denture on the other hand is horseshoe shaped. It follows the horseshoe area where your teeth would be, but the entire middle is left open so that your tongue has space to move. But it doesn’t stop there. Not only is a lower denture missing all that area that creates suction, but in addition, there is nowhere for the lower denture to suction. Your tongue is attached to the floor of your mouth in the middle of your lower jaw. Every time you speak or chew, your tongue moves and it moves all of that soft tissue around it. Most of the time, this displaces a lower denture. This is what makes lower dentures intolerable for most people. Unless you have the patience to retrain your mouth to use your tongue and cheek muscles to hold the lower denture in place, then it will be a miserable experience.
Now you can see why the above quote resonated with me. I have been trying to find a succinct way to explain my policy on dentures to my patients for years…and there it was. Often people don’t realize how big of a difference just two implants underneath a lower denture can make. It turns a vanity item into a useful appliance. Throughout the years, my patients that have gone from a conventional lower denture to an implant supported denture are always my happiest patients. I can’t even tell you how many of them have told me that it changed their life. They can go back to chewing and eating foods that they haven’t had for years. They can socialize without fear of their denture moving around during conversation. And for many it even changes their intimate life as well. They feel so much less self conscious. It is always amazing to me how two little snaps can truly change a person’s life. I could honestly go on speaking about it for hours! I won’t bore you with the details, but if you or someone you know is suffering, or just “getting by” with a lower denture, I implore you to look into getting two implants on the bottom. With payment plans, it is more affordable now than ever and it will change your life. Let’s get you back to smiling and chewing again!

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Are My Missing Teeth Making Me Fart?

4/2/2021

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More than 70% of the adult population in the US is suffering from digestive symptoms and diseases. So, it is now more important than ever to understand what is leading to your digestive issues. We’ve all heard about heart burn, GERD, Crohn’s and the myriad of other digestive diseases, but how do your teeth come into the mix? Teeth are the beginning of the digestive process. Chewing food is the first step in converting your food into the molecules that the body needs. Research has actually proven that the ability to chew your food properly is just as important as the quality of food you eat!
As a dentist, I have had patients come to me more times than I can count and they just want to fix their front teeth. They want me to pull the back ones, as long as their smile looks good. Here is just one of the problems with that. Not all teeth are alike. We all know this, but until you actually think about it, you may not realize that are teeth are specifically placed where they are needed. Your front teeth, or incisors, are made for cutting or tearing food. They are too delicate to put the amount of force needed to actually chew food on them. This is why when people lose their back teeth, they start having problems with their front teeth. Your next teeth back, the premolars, are basically a hybrid between a front tooth and a back tooth. They can cut and tear a little and they can crush food a little, but they are not adept at doing either very well. They are the quintessential middle man. Your back teeth or molars are the key to good digestion. Their size and design helps to grind and crush the food you eat into little particles that are easy to chew and digest.
The next problem is misalignment of teeth. If a tooth is lost and not replaced in a timely fashion, teeth will start to shift. Even a shift of a millimeter is a huge change in your mouth. It can take teeth that fit perfectly together and make it so all of your teeth are only contacting at one point in your mouth. This makes proper digestion impossible. Think about a time when you got a seed of some sort stuck in your tooth. I’m a big raspberry fan so this is the easiest analogy for me. That tiny raspberry seed stuck on top of your tooth feels like a boulder. Your bite immediately feels off and I personally have to take care of it before I can keep eating. When your teeth shift after you lose one, it is the same phenomenon, but it happens gradually and often people are completely unaware that it is happening. Over months and years their bite just changes and they adapt to their new bite and then wonder why all of the sudden they are having all of these new digestive issues popping up.
Obviously, there are thousands of reasons why you might be having digestive issues. However, if you want to start at the beginning, keep in mind that the first step is having a good bite and chewing your food properly. There are so many different ways to replace missing teeth and restore proper function. Nobody should have to suffer with digestive issues. Let us help get to the root of your problem so you can feel good again!

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Born in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Ariana displayed bright intelligence from an early age, eventually becoming salutatorian for her graduating class at Dixie-Hollins High School. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Florida at Gainesville, and continued her education to earn her dental degree in 2004 from the University of Florida College of Dentistry. It's worth noting that the College of Dentistry is ranked seventh among all dental schools in the United States, and it has an international reputation for the caliber of its graduates. Through continuing education programs, Dr. Clayton maintains her training on the most up-to-date and successful dental treatment techniques, and she strives to incorporate the best of newly available techniques into her practice. Sunshine Smile Designs is proud to offer this high level of care at an affordable price to many patients. Beyond her daily practice, Dr. Clayton is a volunteer for Dentistry From the Heart, a program that provides dental services at no cost to the indigent in Florida. Likewise, she also regularly attends mission trips to provide free dental services to blind and deaf children in an impoverished area of Jamaica. Ariana enjoys spending time with her nine-year-old son and her husband, who is also a University of Florida–trained dentist. Her artistic side is fulfilled by playing (and teaching) piano and by photography. She also enjoys travel, and one of her life goals is to visit all fifty states by recreational vehicle!

Can My Mouth Really Affect My Heart?

6 Ways to Calm Dental Anxiety

Why is My Dentist Looking at My Tongue?

Do I Really Need X-Rays?

What Is My Dentist Talking About?

Why Do I Need A Crown?

Is My Dental Work Going to Hurt???

I Brush My Teeth...Why Do I Still Have Cavities?

Dentures Without Implants are for Smiling Not Chewing

Are My Missing Teeth Making Me Fart?

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